Feb 15, 2017

Team New Zealand AC50: "Cycling the Cup" by TVNZ

Source TVNZ : tvnz.co.nz --
Cycling stations?? Check those main foils... look like light air specs and scaled up /refined version of Artemis first foils from last Cup, wonder how they'll work in 20knots, although with the new push button control panel they have a wider range of active settings.

Photo: Richard Gladwell / Sail-World - Last Cup edition they made their AC72 airborne which will stand as major development ever in the history of the Cup, but they also fitted a wheel while Oracle installed a frankenstein tiller system.
Team New Zealand had everything to win last Cup, and they had 9 Match Points to achieve it. They couldn´t but they broke through as they use to.
New Zealanders are not only the best sailors in the World but also have some of the wisest guys in the business. Just remember the 'hula' , Oracle Trimaran Wing among others which came directly from Mike Drummond's mind. Now the Kiwis have put pedal to the metal literally discarding the manual grinding stations by cycle style ones. We wrote last weeks New Zealand are our favorites based on their top notch crew (Ahsby , Burling , Tuke and others) and also on the non appealing OD platforms. If TNZ managed to design foils par to Oracle this display of drive and innovation will push them even closer to the Finals and recover the Cup.

On the platform itself (Hulls/ Beams / case pos) not much to see, it's all One Design , same mold... yupi .. exciting Americas Cup... not a chance. I'll take you OD a la AC45F or GC32, where the entire crew has an active sailing task, and not like the AC50 where you have 90% grinding and the rest pushing buttons.
Oracle 'unveiled' their clone today also. No pics yet.